Extract text from a PDF
Pull the readable content out of a PDF without retyping it. Works on text-native files and on scans that need OCR.
Verified 2026-08-05or drop a PDF here
.pdf
Up to 20 MB. Same extraction engine as the AI detector. Pro or Max required.
When extraction is the right step
People land here when a PDF is the only copy they have: a contract, a coursework brief, a CV export, a research PDF. Extraction turns that into text you can search, quote or analyse.
If your next step is an authorship check, extract first, then open the AI detector. A score on a PDF you have not read as text is harder to interpret.
Native text versus OCR
Native extraction is usually clean. OCR is an estimate: it reads shapes on a page as characters. A sharp desk scan of a printed essay is fine. A phone photo of a whiteboard is not.
When the result looks wrong, fix the source (rescan, flatter light) before you trust a downstream detector score built on garbage input.
Questions
- How is this different from PDF to text?
- Same engine. This page is for people searching "extract text from PDF"; the converter page answers "PDF to text". Pick either.
- Can I extract text from a scanned PDF?
- Yes, through OCR. Results vary with image quality.
- Do you keep my PDF?
- Files are not used for model training. Retention is described on the privacy page.
